Queen Hortense eBook

Madame de Stael now also remembered the kindness Queen
Hortense had shown her during her exile; and not to
her only, but also to her friend, Madame Recamier,
who had also been exiled by Napoleon, not, however,
as his enemies said, “because she was Madame
de Stael’s friend,” but simply because
she patronized and belonged to the so-called “little
church.” The “little church”
was an organization born of the spirit of opposition
of the Faubourg St. Germain, and a portion of the Catholic
clergy, and was one of those things appertaining to
the internal relations of France that were most annoying
and disagreeable to the emperor.

Queen Hortense had espoused the cause of Madame de
Stael and of Madame Recamier with generous warmth.
She had eloquently interceded for the recall of both
from their exile; and, now that the course of events
had restored them to their home, both ladies came
to the queen to thank her for her kindness and generosity.

Louise de Cochelet has described this visit of Madame
de Stael so wittily, with so much naivete,
and with such peculiar local coloring, that we cannot
refrain from laying a literal translation of the same
before the reader.

CHAPTER V.

MADAME DE STAEL’S VISIT TO QUEEN HORTENSE.

Louise de Cochelet relates as follows: “Madame
de Stael and Madame Recamier had begged permission
of the queen to visit her, for the purpose of tendering
their thanks. The queen invited them to visit
her at St. Leu, on the following day.

“She asked my advice as to which of the members
of her social circle were best qualified to cope with
Madame de Stael.

“‘I, for my part,’ said the queen,
’have not the courage to take the lead in the
conversation; one cannot be very intellectual when
sad at heart, and I fear my dullness will infect the
others.’

“We let quite a number of amiable persons pass
before us in review, and I amused myself at the mention
of each new name, by saying, ’He is too dull
for Madame de Stael.’

“The queen laughed, and the list of those who
were to be invited was at last agreed upon. We
all awaited the arrival of the two ladies in great
suspense. The obligation imposed on us by the
queen, of being intellectual at all hazards, had the
effect of conjuring up a somewhat embarrassed and
stupid expression to our faces. We presented the
appearance of actors on the stage looking at each other,
while awaiting the rise of the curtain. Jests
and bon mots followed each other in rapid succession
until the arrival of the carriage recalled to our faces
an expression of official earnestness.

“Madame Recamier, still young, and very handsome,
and with an expression of naivete in her charming
countenance, made the impression on me of being a
young lady in love, carefully watched over by too severe
a duenna, her timid, gentle manner contrasted
so strongly with the somewhat too masculine self-consciousness
of her companion. Madame de Stael is, however,
generally admitted to have been good and kind, particularly
to this friend, and I only speak of the impression
she made on one to whom she was a stranger, at first
sight.